Scott Allsop's Blog, page 116

2nd March 1791: Frenchman Claude Chappe sends the first message by semaphore machine

Chappe was born into a wealthy family in 1763 and originally trained as a member of the ...

1st March 1872: Yellowstone becomes the world’s first national park

Yellowstone became the first national park in the world after President Ulysses S. Grant signed The Act of Dedication ...

27th February 1933: Reichstag building in Berlin set on fire in an arson attack

Communists were blamed for starting the fire in the Reichstag, and Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found and ...

26th February 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba and sails to the French mainland

The ships from the British Navy that were supposed to ensure Napoleon was unable to escape his exile were not in the area when, on 26 February, he left the island and headed for the French mainland on board the brig Inconstant accompanied by almost a thousand ...

25th February 1956: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev delivers his ‘secret speech’ announcing the start of de-Stalinization

Officially called ‘On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences’, Khrushchev’s speech was a vehement denunciation of Stalin’s abuses of power and his creation of a personality ...

24th February 1868: US President Andrew Johnson impeached for defying the Tenure of Office Act

Having previously served as a senator and later military governor for the state of Tennessee, Andrew Johnson was chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be his running mate in the election of ...

23rd February 1455: Johannes Gutenberg publishes his printed Bible, the first book to be produced with moveable type in the West

Although there is no definitive evidence for this publication date, numerous independent secondary sources state 23 ...

22nd February 1797: The last invasion of Britain takes place, leading to the Battle of Fishguard

The last invasion of Britain by a hostile foreign force began when French troops under the command of the Irish-American Colonel William Tate landed near the Welsh town of ...

21st February 1848: The Communist Manifesto anonymously published in London by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Officially called The Manifesto of the Communist Party, the original pamphlet was just 23 pages long but went on to become a highly influential political document alongside Marx’s more substantial Das ...

20th February 1472: Orkney and Shetland Isles given to Scotland as a wedding dowry

The Northern Isles, which consist of the two island groups of Shetland and Orkney, have been inhabited since prehistoric times but were formally annexed by the Norwegian king Harald Hårfagre in around 875 after he subdued the Vikings who used the islands as a base from which to raid Norway and ...